Ancestor

Template:Pp-pc1 Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Redirect-multi Template:Pp-pc Template:More citations needed Template:Human-centric

In genealogy and evolutionary biology, an ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). Ancestor is "any person from whom one is descended. In law, the person from whom an estate has been inherited."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Relationship

Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some bacteria and other organisms capable of horizontal gene transfer. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female hypergamy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2ⁿ ancestors in the nth generation before them and a total of 2^g+1 − 2 ancestors in the g generations before them. In practice, however, it is clear that most ancestors of humans (and any other species) are multiply related (see pedigree collapse). Consider n = 40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2⁴⁰, approximately 10¹² or one trillion, dwarfs the number of humans who have ever lived.

Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, ancestor worship or, more accurately, ancestor veneration is when people seek providenceTemplate:Explain from their deceased ancestors.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

• Archaic humans
• Collateral descendant
• Consanguinity
• DNA
  • Mitochondrial DNA
  • Y chromosome
• Ethnic group
• Family
• Genealogy
• Genetic genealogy
• Kinship
• Lineage (anthropology)
• Lineal descendant
• Most recent common ancestor
• Progenitor

External links

• United States Census Bureau